


Strength of Eight Melodies

by rarmaster



Category: EarthBound, Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, mother 2
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 22:16:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3953776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was really inspired by Ness earning like 500 HP/PP after Magicant when I played Earthbound so I wrote a thing based on that + some other thoughts about invaded Onett. Nice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strength of Eight Melodies

_It's time to wake up now_

_Your friends are waiting for you_

_It's time to wake up_

~ ~ ~

Ness opened his eyes, taking deep breaths of air that somehow tasted sweeter than any he'd ever tasted. The heat of the Fire Spring should've been enough to bring sweat to his face, but he didn't feel it this time. He felt something else. A pulsing in his bones, under his skin from where his hands and feet touched the floor. He had the power of the Earth in his veins, and he had never felt so good.

"Ness!" Paula's voice. "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

"You were unconscious for a long time…" Jeff added.

"We were all very worried about you," Poo said.

Ness pushed himself upright. Images of Magicant still flickered through his mind, and he knew he was okay—he was  _better_ than okay—but he was still very excited to see his friends faces again. He pulled each of them into a hug, telling him that he was glad to see them, that he was fine, he was fantastic, everything was okay.

"What happened to you?" Paula repeated. She was watching him with worried eyes—no, that wasn't worry. She looked at him almost as if she didn't entirely recognize him.

"It was just a dream," he assured her, assured all of them. He got to his feet, and they followed his lead. Honestly, they seemed quicker to follow him, but, that had to be his imagination. "Like I said, I'm fine! Nothing bad happened." He would tell them more, but for some reason, speaking of Magicant seemed… like breaking a promise. The world was close to his heart, a secret of himself, and even if they were his closest friends, he could not bring himself to share it with them.

Oh! But he'd picked up a few things in Magicant for them. That was right. He pulled off his backpack and set it on the ground, kneeling to dig inside of it. "Here, hang on, I have a few things for you guys! Let me get them out." The Earth Pendants had probably worked their way to the bottom of the bag by now…

Before he reached them, he reached his old baseball cap, the one that he'd gotten from himself in Magicant. It had been his favorite, when he was younger, but he'd gotten reckless and lost it. He was very happy to have it back, and had it not been made for a younger head, he might have worn it now. Instead, he placed it carefully aside so he could see where the Earth Pendants had gone.

"You got stuff for us?" Jeff asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "But, where from? You were with us the whole time! Or did you forget to give us these things sooner."

"No, I…" Ness began, but wasn't sure how to explain it to them. His hands finally closed around the Pendants, at least, so he pulled them out, grateful to have a moment to sort out his words. "Here," he told them, pressing one of the Pendants into each of their hands.

Jeff examined his skeptically, and Paula turned hers over in her hands. Poo just pocketed his, which Ness expected, seeing as pendants like this did not help him, but hinder him. It would've been rude to get one for Jeff and Paula, though, and not for Poo, regardless of what Poo said.

"You never said where you got these, Ness," Paula said, looking up from the Pendant to him.

"I got them from… the dream," Ness answered. He shrugged, wishing he could explain it better. Even if he could explain Magicant to them, he doubted they'd really understand, or believe him.

"I am starting to think that it was more than a dream," Poo said, and he nodded to himself. His eyes flickered from the Pendant in Jeff's hand to the Magicant bat which lay to the side of Ness, then the baseball cap that Ness was carefully putting back in his backpack.

"Well, maybe it was," Ness agreed. He shrugged his backpack onto his back. "But, anyway, we don't have time for that! We have to go to Saturn Valley right away!"

"Saturn Valley?" Jeff asked. He eyed his Pendant one more time, then fastened it onto his shirt, replacing the Rain Pendant, which he put in his pocket. Paula was doing the same, replacing her Flame Pendant.

"Well, if we need to go, we need to go," Paula said. She and Jeff and Poo all exchanged looks, then they each nodded and turned to Ness expectantly. Ness blinked a few times, a little surprised. They were almost looking at him as if he were a new person. Then again, he almost  _felt_ like a new person.

"We'll need to teleport, won't we?" Poo asked. "Will you do the honors, Ness, or should I?"

"Uh, I will," Ness said. There wasn't quite enough space here for PK Teleport α, but he'd learned PK Teleport β while in Magicant. There was enough space for that. "Everyone, get behind me. Ready?" He activated the PSI, and the world began to spin.

~ ~ ~

Ness earnestly pressed the telephone to his ear, bouncing impatiently as it rang and rang. Dr. Andonuts had said Giygas probably already had Onett in his clutches, and even if they were on their way there, Ness needed to know his mom was alright  _now._ A part of him feared she'd never pick up.

But then the phone clicked, and his mom spoke, and Ness let out a long sigh of relief.

"Ness, honey? Is everything okay?" his mom asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah, everything's fine. I'm fine." Ness spoke rapidly, getting those worries out of the way. "What about you, mom? Is everything alright there?" He tapped his foot, waiting for her response.  _Please let our home not be in ruins by now,_ he prayed.

His mom took a moment to respond, and when she did, she answered slowly, as if not wanting to say it. "Oh… Everything's okay…" She didn't sound very confident, though. "But… there are monsters running all over town, and everyone's boarded up their homes… I don't think they've attacked anyone, but, I haven't left the house to find out!" She laughed nervously.

"But you're okay?" Ness asked. There was nothing he could do about the town, not now, not while he was here. He just needed to know if his mom was alright.

"I'm fine…" his mom said. "But I'm a bit scared. Everything will be fine if we sit here in the dark, though, right?"

"Yeah!" Ness told her, hoping he sounded strong enough for her. He thought his mom was very strong, but he wasn't surprised she was scared. Being scared wasn't weakness, and besides, if the monsters were Giygas' troops, he knew how terrifying they could be. "It'll all be okay. I'm on my way over now—just don't go outside, and I'm sure the monsters will leave you alone."

"Oh, you're coming home?"

"Uh-huh, just for a bit." Ness nodded, not that his mom could see through the telephone. "There's something we need to get. We'll be there soon, alright? See you."

"See you, sweetie."

Ness hung up the phone, and headed outside to meet his friends. He'd sent them to make preparations while he called his mom, and they should be done any minute now. And then they'd go. A part of him knew he should be worried about getting to the meteor before it was too late, but he felt… confident. Confident they'd reach there in time. Confident in… everything. Everything really was going to be fine.

~ ~ ~

Onett looked like a completely different place. Paula had come here with Ness and everyone once before—Ness had gotten horribly homesick, and since he'd learned PK Teleport by then, he decided to just head home rather than call his mom. Onett then had reminded Paula of Twoson, just, quieter. Now… They might as well have been back at Stonehenge.

It was dark out, even though it was definitely daytime, and some of those Starmen and their robots were creeping around again… Paula shivered uncomfortably, but followed after Ness as he pressed on.

Ness seemed to be doing okay, at least, even though this was his home. Even if he looked worried, he still hadn't lost that confident gleam in his eyes that he'd had since that strange dream of his. There was something else that was different about him, too, but Paula couldn't quite place it. Poo felt it as well, but he hadn't been able to describe it either. Jeff felt nothing, but he admitted there was something new about Ness.

It was a  _good_ new, of course. Paula just thought it would take her some time to get used to.

"The town's okay, at least," Ness observed, looking around. There were a couple of marks on the buildings, but all of them were still intact. The only difference was the dark sky and Giygas' goons patrolling the streets.

"Here comes trouble, Ness," Jeff warned, readying his Moon Beam Gun. He nodded at the Starman and its Octobot friend that were approaching. The Starman looked different from any of the others they'd encountered so far. It was a dark purple, and if Paula looked at it right, she thought she could see right through it.

Ness shook his head and grinned widely at them. "No trouble!" he said, adjusting his cap and pulling his baseball bat out. "We'll take care of 'em in no time. Come on!"

Ness rushed forward, getting ready for a mighty swing at the Starman. Paula ran after him, gathering PK Fire Ω to her fingertips. If she got a clear shot, she might be able to get both the Starman and the Octobot in the same hit, even if the Starman was in front. She didn't look, but she knew Jeff was checking his device to see the enemies stats—as he always did when they encountered a new enemy—and Poo was…

"Watch out!" Poo called. "That looks like PK Starstorm!"

Ness had only just cracked his bat against the Starman when its Starstorm released. Paula dropped her PK Fire and put her hands up over her head, wishing not for the first time she knew recovery PSI. She knew PSI Shield, but there wasn't enough time to get it up. The Starstorm hit before any of them could do anything, and it knocked all of them off their feet.

Paula took a ragged gasp of air, thanking God she was still alive, even if it hurt way too much to move. She forced herself to open her eyes, to see where her friends were. There was nothing she could do for any of them, of course, not in this condition, but maybe one of them—

The sight of Ness, on his feet like nothing had even happened, knocked all thought out of her mind. He'd had to have cast PK Lifeup before the Starstorm hit for him to still be standing—but there hadn't been time! He'd been in the middle of a swing!

Ness took a step back to steady himself, then cast PK Rockin'. Except, it was like no PK Rockin' Paula had ever seen. It was strong enough to rattle in her bones, and the way it resonated with her own PSI took what little air she had left out of her lungs. PK Rockin' γ had not been that strong. PK Rockin' γ had not been strong enough to take down a regular Starman, but this PK Rockin' took down this stronger Starman in one hit, and the Octobot as well.

"There, I told you," Ness said, reaching down to her. His PSI flooded through her veins—PK Lifeup γ, from the feel of it. "No problem." He moved away from her as she sat up, heading for Poo. "Here, it's okay." The two of them glowed with Ness's PSI, then Ness was moving to Jeff before Poo could offer to heal him.

Paula stared at him in amazement. She could see the marks on of the Starstorm on his arms still, which told her that he hadn't used Lifeup on himself yet. And yet, he'd endured that Starstorm like it was nothing…

"Ness…?" she whispered.

He turned to her, and smiled widely. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" He ran his hands over his arms, casting a weaker PK Lifeup to close his wounds. He should have needed to cast more, but he didn't, and he didn't look worse for the wear despite it. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," Jeff said, straightening his glasses and dusting off his jacket. "Paula, you know PSI Shield, don't you?" he asked, even though he did not need to. He didn't wait for Paula to answer, either. "Maybe the next time we see another one of those Starmen you should cast it right away. I feel like they aren't going to hesitate with the Starstorms, especially if Giygas doesn't want us here."

"Yeah, I will," Paula told him, nodding.

"Are you sure that you do not need a Brain Food Lunch, Ness?" Poo was asking, running his own hands over Ness's arms. Paula thought for sure he would cast PK Lifeup to heal Ness, but even Poo—who was the most cautious to watch for wounds—did not see anything that needed healing. "Three Lifeup γ's in a row is a lot. Certainly you need to replenish your PSI."

"No, no, I'm fine!" Ness laughed. He pushed Poo off of him. "C'mon, the meteor's just past my house! Let's get going."

And so they pressed on, but not after Paula and Jeff exchanged startled glances. Paula asked Poo what he thought about Ness's injuries—or lack of them—and he shrugged. "There was nothing wrong with him," Poo said. "Perhaps it is only because he cast Lifeup on himself before I could examine him."

"Still…" Paula wasn't satisfied. "What  _happened_ to him, in that dream of his? He couldn't have toughed it through a Starstorm  _before_ that!"

Poo shrugged again. His scowl suggested he was thinking hard about it, though. "I'm… not sure if it has anything to do with it," he said slowly, "but back in Dalaam, to complete my training, I had to visit a dream of my own. In that dream, an ancestor of mine broke my legs."

Paula jumped a little, startled, though she should not be by now. She'd known Poo long enough to expect this sort of thing from him. Poo did not seem to see her jump.

"By overcoming the fear of that," Poo continued, "I was able to become stronger. Perhaps Ness has had a similar dream."

"Must've been some dream," Paula muttered. What kind of dreams made you  _physically_ stronger? No PSI she knew of could do that—Offense Up existed, of course, but that sort of change wasn't  _permanent._ And it would take  _a lot_ of Offense Ups to make the change like the one that had been made in Ness. She started to head up to Ness to talk to him again, to see if he'd tell her what had happened this time she asked, but Jeff caught her and pulled her back before she reached him.

"Shh!" Jeff whispered. "Listen. He's doing it again!"

Paula sent a confused glance up at Ness, who was a couple paces ahead of them, strutting along. "Doing what?" she asked. She lowered her voice to humor Jeff, but she still sent him a skeptical look.

"Humming. Listen!"

Paula did. To her surprise, Ness  _was_ humming. She didn't think recognized the tune, but just the sound of it made her feel a little less anxious.

"He's been humming it off and on ever since he woke up from that dream he says he had," Jeff said. "And I  _swear_ it played when he cast PK Rockin', but, that's crazy, isn't it? Songs don't just play out of nowhere."

"What about those songs we were collecting from the Sanctuaries…?" Paula argued, slowly. Now that she thought about it, what Ness was currently humming sounded a lot like them, just strung together. "Those played out of nowhere."

Jeff crinkled his nose. "This magic thing is way beyond me," he grumbled.

"Perhaps it's the songs that have given him strength," Poo said, falling into step on the other side of Paula.

"Mm, we  _did_ collect all of them right before Ness fell asleep," Jeff agreed.

"Hey, guys, what are you talking about?" Ness stopped and turned around to them. "And why are you leaving me out of it? Oh—never mind, here comes one of those Starmen. Eugh, and what's that he's got with him? An eye with  _feet?_ "

"Paula, PSI Shield!" Jeff reminded her, sharply, as he shot at the Eye. "Ness, now would be a good time for another PK Rockin'!"

"No, wait!" Paula called. "PSI Shield Omega will reflect the Starstorm if he casts it!"

"I'll just whack that Eye, then!" Ness dodged around the Starman and hit the Eye hard. Paula finished putting PSI Shield Ω in its place, and Poo launched himself at the Eye, his fist landing right in the middle of it. It vanished, and the Starman cast PK Starstorm, but with it reflected back at him from four sides, he didn't last.

"I guess that wasn't so bad," Jeff said, putting his gun away. "Let's hurry, though!"

"Can we stop by my house when we get to it?" Ness asked. If Paula remembered the layout of Onett correctly, they were already close to it. It was just past this bend of trees. "I told my mom we'd talk to her."

"I think we should get a piece of that meteor, first," Jeff said. "Before Giygas decides to destroy it or make off with it."

Ness sighed audibly. "Alright…" He didn't sound very happy, but he didn't argue. "Leave the healing to me from now on, okay Poo? And Paula, save your PSI for that PSI Shield."

Poo and Paula both nodded, and the four of them continued walking again. There were only those purple Starmen and the Octobots and the strange Eyes around here, but they ran into plenty of them, and they were all hard battles. They knew how to deal with the Starmen, and the Octobots were just Octobots, but the Eyes could paralyze, and they'd all been in a panic when Jeff got Diamondized, even though Poo had the PSI to fix it.

The constant casting of PSI Shield Ω was quickly wearing on Paula, too. She only had enough PSI in her for maybe five or six of them, total, and with a hill to climb before they reached the meteorite, and only one PSI Shield Ω left in her, she was getting scared. Being the only thing standing between your friends and certain doom was not easy. And she did not have time to ask Poo for a Brain Food Lunch or anything to restore her PSI—another Starman was approaching.

Paula cast PSI Shield Ω before she thought, then she fell to her knees, breathing hard. That was the last of her PSI. She had maybe another PK Fire α in her, but she wouldn't push it at this point. She knew when she was at her limits. So she stayed there and bit back tears while the rest of them fought.

"Paula? Paula, hey…" Ness knelt down in front of her as the Octobot toppled over, damaged beyond functioning anymore. "It's okay…" He clapped a hand on her shoulder, and smiled brightly at her. "It's okay! It'll be okay. Here, hang on." He set down his backpack and rummaged through it, producing a pudding after a second, which he handed to her.

Paula took it from him, wiping her eyes. She'd never heard of 'magic pudding' before (it was labeled that on the top) but clearly it was meant to restore PSI. He handed her a spoon after another second, and even if she had no idea how clean it was, with it having been in his  _backpack_ , it was preferable to eating with her fingers. "Thank you…" she murmured.

"No, thank you!" Ness said. "We wouldn't have made it this far without you. And don't worry. We're almost at the top of the hill—we'll grab a piece of that meteor, and then we'll just run back to my house, and it'll be fine."

Paula nodded again, too busy finishing off the pudding reply. Ness sat down in front of her, though, and while Jeff watched for approaching goons, Poo handed her a Brain Food Lunch.

Then Ness started singing. He closed his eyes, and he sang! It was the same tune he'd been humming earlier, and like earlier, just the sound of it made Paula feel a little better. It would be strange to say that the Brain Food Lunch seemed to restore more PSI to her than it normally did, but saying that energy seemed to seep out of the ground below her and into her bones as Ness sang would've sounded even stranger. When they got to their feet again, Paula felt a lot better, and like she had at least another three PSI Shield Ω's in her.

Ness was right. Everything was going to be okay.

~ ~ ~

Ness knocked on his door, hoping his mom would hear him, since the door was locked and he had no key. Jeff had the meteor piece in his pocket, and even though there were none of Giygas' goons in the immediate area, Ness didn't want to draw attention to them by knocking loud enough for the whole town to hear. The last thing he wanted was a fight on his doorstep.

"Mom?" he called, for good measure. "It's me, Ness! I'm home!"

"Oh, Ness!" Now he heard footsteps inside his house. "Just a second sweetie, I'm coming!" Ness smiled at his friends, and took a step back so his mom could open the door. "Here, come on in, you and your friends, come on!" his mom said, waving them all inside. None of them hesitated.

"We won't be staying long," Ness said, though he'd told his mom ages ago, when he'd called her.

"Long enough for steak, though, I hope," his mom said. "I started fixing some the moment I got your call, and it just finished a few minutes ago." She smiled widely at all of them and pointed to the table. "Don't be shy now! Eat up!"

Ness was not sure any of his friends were hungry, but he scrambled to the table as soon as she said he could. He would never pass up steak. Paula ate hers, at least—since she was the one who needed the restored PSI the most. Poo only picked at his, but Ness hardly noticed, because Poo had always picked at his food if it wasn't from Dalaam.

"Hey, Mom, how's Tracy?" Ness asked. He wasn't really surprised she hadn't come down to eat, since he didn't think it was actually a meal time, but he was a little surprised she didn't come down to say hi to him.

"She's alright," his mom assured him. "Probably frightened, though, she hasn't come down from her room."

"I'll go check on her."

"Finish your steak first."

"Yes mom."

He didn't dare rush through steak, but he did end up finishing it before his friends did, and quickly darted up the stairs. Tracy was happy to see him when he ducked his head into her room, and talked him into a hug.

"Good luck saving the world," she told him, squeezing him tight. Then she let go and straightened to her full height—just inches shorter than him—and cleared her throat in what she thought was a professional manner. Ness did his best not to laugh. "Hey, do you want me to store any items for you? Or, do you want to pick up an item?"

Ness did laugh now. "No, I'm okay, thanks Tracy!" He'd had to dump most of his items in Magicant to make room for new important ones, so his backpack was currently only full of things he needed. "Keep up the good work, though. And maybe go downstairs and ask my friends? They might have something they want you to hang onto."

Tracy nodded. "Sure thing big bro! Now move out of my way."

Ness stepped aside for her, and then headed to his room. He took a deep breath when he entered, smiling a little as he looked around it. Somehow, it seemed… different, after the trip to Magicant. He took the worn baseball cap out of his backpack and placed it carefully on top of his short bookshelf, right next to an old baseball and his first baseball bat. He smiled fondly at the sight of them all next to each other. Then he nodded to himself, and headed back downstairs.

It was time to go find Giygas, and end this once and for all.


End file.
